Tully: Would you let your son marry a Democrat?

If politics were a sport, it would look like this in 2014. A new Pew Research Center report finds an increasing level of partisanship among American voters.
(Photo:
Robert Scheer/The Star
)Buy Photo

A particularly depressing finding in a new Pew Research Center report sums up the state of partisanship in America in 2014:

“Three out of ten consistent conservatives would be unhappy if an immediate family member married a Democrat,” the report reads, “and about a quarter of across-the-board liberals say the same about the prospect of a Republican in-law.”

Wow. Even in matters of love, we are an increasingly partisan nation. Apparently, if you want to date someone, you’d better bring your voting record along when it’s time to meet the parents.

The Pew report is fascinating but not too surprising. It paints the picture of a nation that is more divided along partisan lines than at any point in at least two decades, and likely much longer. It finds that liberals and conservatives not only prefer different types of neighborhoods and homes, but in large numbers they want their neighborhoods to be filled with politically like-minded residents. In many cases, the report adds, they make friends only with those who agree with them on everything from immigration reform to government spending to their preferred political candidates.

The report backs up what I’ve seen in thousands of emails from the most partisan of readers in recent years — a belief that the other party is “so misguided that they threaten the nation’s well-being.” The other side isn’t only wrong, the thinking goes, they are driving America to ruin. Many suggest the other party is doing so on purpose.

Although the number of hard-core conservatives and liberals is relatively low, Pew’s poll of roughly 10,000 voters found that those on the edges are the most likely to be involved in the political process. That’s why we’ve seen Republicans such as Sen. Richard Lugar tossed out of office during low-turnout primaries in recent years, and it’s why we’ve seen Democratic City-County Council members block the Republican mayor’s sensible plans to raise revenue for street repairs and new police officers in Indianapolis.

In my mind, the level of divisive partisanship is one of the greatest threats facing the country. It’s preventing sensible debates over immigration, gun violence and the federal debt, as well as on just about any other issue imaginable. And it’s also making us an angrier nation that we need to be. With the help of Fox News and MSNBC, it’s turned people of different views into enemies unworthy of even a conversation.

Two emails I received recently did a job of underscoring the issue. In one, a liberal correspondent wrote to criticize a program that rewards the best of the best teachers in local low-income schools simply because the man who wrote the check to finance the awards once worked in the George W. Bush administration.

Yes, it was that simple. The philanthropist was a Republican and, thus, a bad person.

In another email, a conservative wrote to complain that I had criticized a Republican official for comparing America in the Obama era to Germany in the Hitler years. He suggested I wouldn’t have written the column if the comparison had been to Stalin, “because your left wing mantra does not allow for any political mass murderers from your side of the political spectrum.”

Again, wow. (For the record, I despise mass murderers regardless of their political views.)

There’s nothing wrong with having strong political views — many of us do — or being a solid conservative or die-hard liberal. What’s troubling is that those on the edges seem less willing to acknowledge the other side these days, and there is an increasing distaste for any sort of compromise. Moderation was once a badge of honor; these days, it’s almost a mark of shame.

And it’s getting worse. Pew found that the political center has been shrinking for two decades while the number of those on the far ends of the political debates has been growing. And while the report found that “most Americans in the center think that Obama and Republican leaders should simply meet each other halfway,” it’s clear that the louder voices on the edges prevent that.

It’s no surprise. Anyone who has paid attention to politics in recent years knows that the level of partisanship is deepening and that it is dominating our political system. It’s led to gridlock on the most important issues facing not only the nation but even our local government.

We can’t debate immigration reform in a rational way because a bloc of solid conservatives won’t allow it. Locally, we can’t fix our roads because a collection of Democrats don’t want to give the Republican mayor a victory.

Partisanship is polluting America in 2014. It’s clouding the way many people look at every debate and every issue. And, yes, even how they look at the person you decide to love.